Let the Burke Bidding Begin

Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun is reporting that if the Leafs are truly interested in Brian Burke as their next general manager they had better act very quickly.

According to the article there may be as many as three teams that are interested in Brian Burke. Although three teams may be interested it is highly anticipated that the Leafs will make Burke an offer as soon as he becomes available.

One of the other teams that is said to be a possibility to offer Burke a job is the Black Hawks. It is speculated that he could replace Dale Tallon as GM to bolster their front office who already has Scotty Bowman on board.

36 Responses to Let the Burke Bidding Begin

historically, MLSE has been known to take their sweet time with things and dither their way to screwing up a sure thing.

it will be interesting to see what happens. if i were burke, i wouldnt look at just 1 option.

the issue is that in the east, most of the teams have pretty locked in GMs.

really only the leafs with ottawa and atlanta are the true possibilities among those out east. fletch has said he wont stay forever while those other two teams may need a change in direction sooner than later as the incumbents just havent gotten the job done.

i dont think money will be at issue. its the autonomy. will peddie give it up? thats the biggest question and one that could cost the leafs a chance at getting the candidate they describe almost to a t.

I saw the guy after the Ducks game in a hotel on the waterfront after the game. He was hanging out at the hotel bar with wat seemed to be parts of his family and friends. The guy seemed happy no doubt!! lol Hopefully thats the main selling point of comoing to Toronto!!

-biggest hockey market in the world (would be immortalised if succesful)-close proximity to his family

-MLSE can probably offer him the most amount of money out of all teams

-finally his wife's broadcasting career is in Canada, wether it can be transfered from Vancouver to Toronto remains unknown…

Its the Leafs race to loose, they can offer him the most. This is all pending on how much management freedom they would let him have.

Burke will probably be a solid GM for the Leafs. What remains to be determined is whether he's top notch, and that's where the debate begins.

I'm sort of in the middle in this issue. Some think Burke is over-rated and point to his questionable draft history. Others say he's really smart and hard to hoodwink, and helped Anaheim over the top by getting the final pieces.

Time will tell if Burke is what Pat Gillick was to the Blue Jays. Let's hope he's not J.P. Ricchardi.

What's honestly so good about Brian Burke? I know that he always gets talked about in high regard and would be able to handle pressure in Toronto due to spotlight media, but what will he do for our rebuilding team? Cliff Fletcher has made brilliant moves in the offseason in Hagman and Grabovski, and moved up to draft us Luke Schenn, but what will Burke do? He got Anaheim into trouble with their salary cap, and only got aging players for their team in Pronger, Schneider, Niedermayer, Selanne, and even Bertuzzi. How would he be able to be patient enough to rebuild when it seems he wants to always win quickly? I think Cliff is doing a great job, and I would rather keep him for now than get Burke. I believe even taking a risk on Steve Yzerman would be better because he has been mentored by Ken Holland, who is great with young players. I'm not sure if this is the right General Manager for our situation, maybe its just all the hype.

What strikes me as his best quality is that he's proactive in terms of remedying issues. Remember how quiet the Leafs were at trade deadlines under Quinn, how we had to settle for second rate UFAs under both Quinn and JFJ how we're just beginning use 1st round picks for something other than trade bait? Leaf GMs in the past were painfully passive when it came to addressing on ice and draft issues.

He won a Stanley cup, Ananhiem is threat to win the cup this year and is built around Pronger and Neidlemayer. There is a difference when shedding young talent to came room for a cup run. The task in Toronto will be different than the one in Anahiem (where they had already had a young neclues that needed to be complimented by qualitiy veterans and players in their prime). One need only look at what he accomplished in Vancouver to understand his ability to rebuild a team.

There is no evidence that Steve Yzerman would be a quality GM, he is reputation as a great potential GM is based purely on media hype.

They can't act TOO quickly as he's still bound contractually to the Ducks. They'll have to wait until he gets his papers allowing other teams to talk to him otherwise – it will be considered tampering by the league

after hearing that jim rutherford turned down the leafs a year ago, that tells me at that point peddie, we can only assume, didnt want to give full autonomy to jim.

he didnt want to do that either with bowman.

and now we have burke. considering how ok the leafs have fared with all the changes by fletcher et al, peddie must feel he has something to do with that, considering he did bring back fletch. thus i see him resisting even more giving up on his position with the team.

its going to be a hard sell to tell burke he has to report to someone who isnt the owner.

this is one of the big reasons i am resistant to start singing the good praises of the team already this early in the season. theres lots to do, lots of change needed, lots of pieces to find and lots of holes to fill.

its been a decent start, but they are under .500. they have some really bright spots but nothing to make us forget tavares or hedman completely.

i've mentioned this before. this next stretch where the bulk of the games are on the road will really test this team. this trip out west and another later in california could really show this team is good if they succeed, or that this team is as bad as many said they were in september if they struggle.

i think around xmas, thats a great time to bring in burke. there will be stronger evidence where the team is at and with big decisions looming, it may be the right time for someone new and long term to take the team to the next step.

Traded an injury prone Bure for a good return, difficult position at the time considering Bure openly demanded a trade.

Traded Trevor Linden for Brian McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi and a 3rd round pick he used to select Jarko Rutuu. Not bad return for Trevor Linden who was past his prime.

Burke would later package McCabe with a prospect (Pavel Vorobiev) to land a second overall pick to then select Daniel Sedin.

Brought in Brendan Morrison by flipping hold out Alexander Moginly. Morrison though not the best player today did have quite a productive career with the Canucks.

Not bad for a team that struggled against the weak Canadian dollar in a pre lockout LNH. Burke accomplished in Vancouver what Edmonton and Calgary could not, icing team that could be competive over the course of several season and keep that nucleas in tact.

Considering he's put his ass on the line publically and it would be in the best interest of the board (after all a team that could play a round or two or three produces more revenue) yes I do think MSLE is bigger than Peddie's ego.

Do you think Fletcher has been restricted in his role, outside of the fact that is job is temporary?

I'd also like to ask in general has there ever been Leafs news or goings on that you have actually been in favor of?

Chicago can have him as a leaf fan i dont want to see burke as a gm.He did nothing in Vancover. Wow he one a stanley cup with Anahiem a team that Brian murray put together. He made one Big trade to land pronger whats he done since… Anahiem is looking more like vancover when he left

Some boob made a comment at the bottom of that article that actually makes some sense – The Rags might be a good fit for Burke – Slats is going to move up stairs and do his "presidential duties" and Burke gets to run the team – glitz and glam of the big city and be one of the big fishes in a big pond – what more can a guy ask for with a big ego.

True, it's very easy to sit back and do little. The true genius' are those who make a move that also works out.

I always use the baseball analogy. It's always said that the trade that finally put the Blue Jays over the top is when Pat Gillick acquired Robbie Alomar and Joe Carter from San Diego for Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff in 1991. It was a bit of a gamble, but boy that paid off big time.

That's the type of GM the Leafs need. Someone with tremendous vision who sees these types of things in advance and isn't afraid to act.

Well put, I guess is Burke is the type that swings for the fences. He also is proactive in cleaning up his mistakes. How soon we forget that he waived Schneider to make way for a greater talent in Selanne and if Anahiem tanks this season for whatever reason they can trade Pronger for huge return moving forward. There are exit stradegies.

ok well then i guess u don't the leafs to win the cup? he didn't just win one with anaheim. he built a solid team. he drafted getzlaf and perry and brought scott neidermayer and pronger than added bertuzzi for some physical presence. he did quite a bit. he also brought the sedins to vancouver if i'm not mistaken.

they were pretty effective in the last half of the 3rd when they were going at .25 seconds a shift.

we saw in the calgary game on the phaneuf goal that the team stayed out too long and got caught.

they are blocking their share of shots but are still getting mixed up with the man on man vs zone coverage.

there are also some players with bad habits to break. i think wilson did change to zone coverage, but some of the holdovers still like the man on man and still chase the puck (i.e kubina).

i dont know if kubina got hurt last night or what, but he played one shift in the 3rd period. he only had 12 minutes. but i didnt see him after he skated all the way across the ice to take the man finger had for no reason. after that he barely played. but he is one who continues to show mistrust in his defence partners……not named kaberle.

strange, he didnt do that against hte habs and ironically had his best game this year. he now reverted back to the running around ad lib game and he's been weak in the last two.

Let me first start off by saying that I DO believe Burke is a decent gm. I do not believe, though, that he is a top tier nhl gm. The only move that you have pointed out that would be a clear win for Burke would be the Trevor Linden trade. That was a purer steal.

I would call the Bure trade a wash, and the McCabe/Sedin trade a wash. Morrision although a very capable player, was never more than a second line centre and in his prime would not touch Mogilny. Burke did keep the team intact, and they were somewhat competitive, but, in my own opinon, they were never a true cup contender. He never got the team over the hump.

Now some will reply that he won a cup in Anahiem. But really all he had to do was fill in a few missing pieces in Nieds, Pronger, and Selanne, granted big pieces, but the Pronger one was a deal where Pronger demanded a trade ( like Bure) and the other two were two free agents signing on when they realized that the Ducks were a true contender, thanks to Brian Murray, not Brian Burke.

Another thing I would scared about, especially if I were a Leafs fan, would be his questionable draft history. The only signifigant draftees, in my opinion were the Sedins, drafted at 2 and 3……

All I am saying is that in my own opinion, there probably are some better options then Brian Burke for Toronto.

Trades do not happen in a vaccuum. Given the situation Burke faced in both Bure and Moginly's case he was able to obtain tremendous value. In case you've forgotten the challenges of trading big name players in the pre lockout LNH, you'd be well served to look up what Fleury yeilded when traded to Colorodo or the bag of puck Gretzky landed for LA.

How is McCabe for Sedin a wash? Seriously, where was I when McCabe obtain redemption on this site.

Bottom line he proactively rebuilt Vancouver and turned them into a legitimate team for the first time since Pat Quinn was in charge. He did so in a bold Brian Coangelo type fashion, giving the franchise a new identity and achieved this in a relatively short period of time. Unlike other teams that spend never seem to emerge from a rebuilding process.

Oh, just Niedlemayer, Pronger and Selanne. What a hack, because all the other GMs in the LNH had already passed on these no names. Burke doesn't derserve any credit for obtain two Norris Trophy winning defenseman and a guy who put up 40 goals for 1.5 million dollar cap hit.

Could someone refresh my memory on when Pronger demanded a trade to Anahiem. I mean if Bob Gainey had picked up Pronger we'd be subjected to 100 articles on the virtues of Gainey. Hell if JFJ had the foresight to follow through on the deal he lined up with Lowe (Steen I'll never forgive you, you pseudo professional hockey player) many would be more forgiving his short comings.

I'm getting tired of reading 'don't tell me won a Stanley Cup', 'he only landed the twins in Vancouver', 'Pronger demanded a trade, so getting him is irrelevant'. To suggest that these accomplishments should be overshadowed by signing Bertuzzi and Schiender to short contracts and Andy McDonald is assinine.

Jarko Rutuu in the third round is a decent pick up. Here's a thought though, he could hire scouts to tell him who draft. Maybe there are even some within the organization.

again, every year people say the leafs wont score and i say the leafs wont keep the puck out of the net.

this year is a bit different though considering who is behind the bench. I dont think its a bad thing that they are missing the qualities you mentioned because i want this team to draft high this year.

PK is a big problem but that can be easily remedied, shot blocking is up, zone coverage is inconsistent.

the big problem this year so far has been Toskala, who has played pretty medicore compared to the 2nd half of last year.

And if we follow this Burke bashig logic, Bob Gainey is only percieved as a good GM but in reality he's only average because he essentially traded Grabovski for Lang. Lets ignore the fact Montreal didn't have room for Grabovski and hang Gainey out to dry. It doesn't matter that he put together a good team. GMs are only good when they have young talent. Getting a player over the age of 30 is soooooo old LNH.